Trout Creek Hill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Trout Creek Hill |
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 Trout Creek Hill
Location in Washington (state)
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 2,946 feet (898 m) |
| Geography | |
| Location | Skamania County, Washington, US |
| Parent range | Cascade Range |
| Topo map | USGS Stabler |
| Geology | |
| Age of rock | Pleistocene |
| Mountain type | Shield volcano |
| Last eruption | 340,000 years ago |
Trout Creek Hill is a small volcano in Washington, USA. It's a type of volcano called a shield volcano. It's in Skamania County and stands about 2,946 feet (898 meters) tall. Trout Creek Hill is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a chain of volcanoes. It belongs to the Marble Mountain-Trout Creek Hill volcanic area.
About 340,000 years ago, Trout Creek Hill erupted. Its lava flowed 12 miles (20 km) southeast. This lava briefly blocked the Columbia River. As a shield volcano, it has two smaller cinder cones on top. The area around it is covered in forests. It's home to the Wind River Experimental Forest and is a great place for hiking.
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Where is Trout Creek Hill Located?
Trout Creek Hill is found in Skamania County, Washington. It reaches a height of 2,946 feet (898 meters). It's also called Trout Hill. Its name was officially recorded in 1979. The land here is rough and rocky. It was shaped by glaciers, which created deep valleys.
You can get to Trout Creek Hill and the nearby Marble Mountain–Trout Creek Hill area by roads. These roads are in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Washington Route 503 and Forest Service Route 90 are about 31 miles (50 km) east of Woodland. To reach Trout Creek Hill, drive north on the Wind River highway. Then, follow Forest Service road 54.
What Animals and Plants Live Here?
The area around Trout Creek Hill includes the Wind River Experimental Forest. This forest has many trees like Western hemlock, Douglas fir, and Pacific silver fir. It's known as a key place for forest research in the Pacific Northwest. The Wind River Forest is east of Vancouver, Washington. It's managed by the United States Forest Service.
The forest has ponds, streams, and wet marshes. Other conifer trees here include grand firs, noble firs, and Pacific yews. You can also find western red cedars. Other tree types are bigleaf maples, black cottonwoods, Pacific dogwoods, and red alders.
Smaller plants grow on the forest floor. These include shrubs like big huckleberry, Oregon grape, Pacific rhododendron, red huckleberry, salal, and vine maple. Other plants are brackenfern, prince's pine, swordfern, trillium, twinflower, queencup beadlily, and vanilla leaf. At higher spots, you'll see beargrass and huckleberry.
Many animals live in this forest. Visitors often see Douglas squirrels. You might also spot nine types of bats, three kinds of shrews, and three kinds of voles. There's also one type of flying squirrel and Townsend's chipmunks. Larger animals like Black-tailed deer and elk are often hunted by predators.
Predators in the forest include American black bears, bobcats, cougars, coyotes, martens, and weasels. Many birds live here too. These include brown creepers, dark-eyed juncos, goshawks, and hairy woodpeckers. The Northern spotted owl is a threatened species found here. You can also see pileated woodpeckers, red-breasted nuthatches, and winter wrens.
In Trout and Panther Creeks, rainbow trout live all year. Summer and winter steelhead are also present. These are the only migratory fish in the streams. Eastern brook trout only live in Trout Creek.
How Trout Creek Hill Formed
The Cascade Range in southern Washington is a long chain of volcanoes. It stretches 600 miles (970 km) from Canada to northern California. These volcanoes formed because the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate is sliding under the North American Plate. This process is called subduction.
The Washington Cascades have rocks from the Cenozoic era. These rocks are volcanic and intrusive. The Cascades are split into two parts based on their age. The Western Cascades formed 50 to 5 million years ago. The High Cascades formed in the last 5 million years. The High Cascades haven't changed much from Earth's movements. But the Western Cascades are more folded and faulted.
In the Wind River area, the Cascades sit on top of old lava flows. These flows are from the Cenozoic era. The Cascade Arc started forming during the Oligocene epoch. By the late Miocene epoch, there was a gap between the Washington and Oregon volcanoes. Volcanic activity increased in Washington during the Quaternary period. This led to eruptions from stratovolcanoes and small shield volcanoes.
Trout Creek Hill is a shield volcano. It's small and has two cinder cones on top. These cones produced dark gray lava flows. You can also find hornblende andesite rock near Trout Creek Hill. This is close to West Crater.
When Did Trout Creek Hill Erupt?
Trout Creek Hill erupted about 340,000 years ago. This was during the Pleistocene epoch. The eruption created a lava flow that went 12 miles (20 km) to the southeast. This flow temporarily blocked the Columbia River. The lava from this eruption was dark gray. It formed the shield volcano.
Lava from the two cinder cones on Trout Creek Hill didn't travel far to the west. Instead, it moved southeast down the Wind River Valley. It flowed into the Columbia River and around Bunker Hill. In the Wind River valley, these lava deposits are very deep. They are over 325 feet (99 meters) deep where Bear Creek, Panther Creek, and Wind River meet. Shorter flows to the west were likely over 200 feet (61 meters) thick.
Other lava flows from Trout Creek Hill are mixed with till (rock debris from glaciers). These are from the Salmon Springs and Fraser Glaciation periods. Their exact age is not known. The lava from Trout Creek Hill can be pāhoehoe (smooth) or blocky. It also contains volcanic ash and cinders.
Within the Marble Mountain–Trout Creek Hill area, there have been three eruptions in the Holocene epoch. These happened about 8,000 years ago. They were at West Crater, another cone near Hackamore Creek, and a phreatic vent near Bare Mountain. A phreatic eruption produces steam and rock fragments. The West Crater eruption made a lava dome and lava flow. The Bare Mountain vent created a large explosion crater.
Fun Things to Do at Trout Creek Hill
While only researchers can stay overnight at Wind River Forest, camping is allowed. You can camp at Panther Creek and Beaver campgrounds. These are in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest area. They are very popular, so you often need reservations. Motels are also available in Carson and Stevenson, along with restaurants.
You can hike the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail #2000. This trail goes through the Trout Creek part of Wind River Forest. The Whistle Punk Trail 59 is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long. It runs through a young forest area near the experimental forest. It also has a short section of old-growth forest. This trail offers views of old logging tools and a former railroad. Sedum Point, on the Pacific Crest Trail, gives great views of the Trout Creek Hill volcano.
